Rocor-MP Synod re the 2 Anniversaries 1917-2017

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Rocor-MP Synod re the 2 Anniversaries 1917-2017

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NEW YORK: March 10, 2017

Epistle of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia on the 100th Anniversary of the Tragic Revolution in Russia and Beginning of the Godless Persecutions

From the Editors: As reported today from the Chancery of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York gave his blessing to read the following Epistle on the Second Sunday of Great Lent from all church ambos to mark the 100th anniversary of the appearance of the “Sovereign” Icon of the Mother of God.

Beloved in Christ Brothers and Sisters:

This year, the entire world, especially we all, will remember the great tragedy of the 20th century which disrupted the fates of millions of people. This calamity literally touched the lives of every Russian family, wherever they may have been. We remember now the hundredth anniversary of the bloody and destructive revolution in Russia. As a result of the betrayal of the government and military leadership, the Tsar was forced to abdicate the throne, which led to unavoidable consequences: the demise of the state, the martyric death of the Tsar himself and of his Most August Family, the brutal internecine war, and the unprecedented persecution of the Orthodox Church and of faith in God in Russia.

In 1909, Peter Arkadievich Stolypin declared: “Give the government 20 years of peace, internal and external, and you will not recognize the Russia of today!” Alas, the Russian Prime Minister was only to live another two years. He was killed in the presence of his Sovereign in a theater in Kiev in 1911.

The fact that Russia was making enormous strides forward was recognized far beyond the borders of our Fatherland, even so far as the United States of America. In November, 1914, the magazine National Geographic published a noteworthy issue devoted to Russia. Social and economic analyses of the day showed that by the date targeted by Stolypin, all key economic indicators would show that Russia would have achieved unstoppable growth. The only thing that hindered it was a revolution organized and supported by the Western nations. Our Fatherland was not given even 20 days of peace. It is important to note that the constant denigration of Russia on the part of “Western civilization” we see today existed a hundred years ago and, in fact, much earlier. The world despised the Russian Empire, the heir to Holy Orthodox Rus. Neither adherence to the duty to Russia’s allies, nor the unceasing readiness for cooperation by the Russian Tsars could change that. The renowned British statesman, Lord Palmerston, succinctly stated: “How difficult life is in the world when no one is at war with Russia.” He was referring to the mid-19th century, but sadly it went unheeded.

In the beginning of the 20th century, St Makary (Nevsky), Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomensk, cautioned: “We are now experiencing times of trouble. Russia has survived periods of tribulation, but they were never as dangerous as today. Then, everyone was for God, everyone wished to know His will, but today it is different. Then they supported the Tsar. Today that has changed. Today we hear blasphemy against God and plots against His anointed one…”

The educated classes in Russia, raised in so-called “Westernizing” traditions, pushed Russia with almost suicidal relentlessness into the abyss, pushing the Russian people in every way possible to reject their faith, their Tsar and their Fatherland. One cannot help but remember the words of the Psalmist David: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalms 14:1).

But even in the darkest times of persecution, the Lord did not abandon His people. Thus, this year we mark another no-less-important 100th anniversary-the restoration of the Patriarchate in Russia. This happened precisely when an intercessor and sufferer for the entire Russian Church was especially needed. The enthronement of St Tikhon, Patriarch of All Russia and Confessor, took place on November 21/December 4, 1917, in the Uspensky Cathedral in Moscow’s Kremlin, on the feast day of the Entrance into the Temple of the Most-Holy Mother of God.

  • [ sidebar by Barbara ]
    Image

    Sovereign or Reigning ( Derzhavnaya ) Icon, found at Kolomenskoye on outskirts of Moscow, a complex built by Tsar Alexey Mikhailovitch in the 1660s. It was he who, in the later years of his reign, began the Westernization of Russia which was disastrously accelerated by his son Peter I, Catherine II, and many other figures -- who, it could be argued, bear a large portion of the responsibility for the 1917 Revolution, along with ill-disposed contemporary outside forces.

    From wikipedia : "Russian monarchists believe the reappearance of the icon was an indication that the Virgin Mary was displeased with Russia for dethroning the House of Romanov during the February Revolution. They believe that She will hold the Imperial Crown for safekeeping until the Tsarist system is restored."

Epistle resumes below :

But even before, on the very day of the abdication of the Anointed of God, Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich, March 2/15, 1917, the miraculous “Sovereign” Icon of the Mother of God was revealed to our people as a sign that the Most-Pure Queen would not abandon her care for the suffering Russian land, which from days of old was known as the House of the Most-Holy Mother of God.

Even now... all Russian people are Divinely granted the opportunity of returning to their Orthodox Christian roots. We must now make sense of our history and understand the reasons why Russia fell into such terrible tribulation. One of the reasons for those tragic times was the apostasy and neglect of faith in Christ, and the rejection of the Divinely-ordained government. We must not under any circumstances justify the actions of those responsible for the deadly revolution. A symbol of reconciliation of the Russian nation with the Lord would be to rid Red Square of the remains of the main persecutor and executioner of the 20th century, and the destruction of monuments to him. They are all symbols of catastrophe, tragedy, and of the destruction of our God-given Sovereignty. The same applies to the cities, oblasts and streets which are deprived of their original historic names.

During those times of troubles, the Russian Church Abroad always deemed it her sacred duty

  • Another aside by Barbara
    Image

    Metropolitan Philaret, one of the most outspoken Archpastors. The 3rd First Hierarch of Rocor's boldness in staunchly opposing the Soviet system and Communism at every turn throughout his life was justified by God when his relics were found to be incorrupt in November 1998

to express the full truth about Russian history, which was impossible to do in the Fatherland. Now we must, first of all, remind the Russian people of the path of the Cross of the New Martyrs. This is not a political matter, as some might insist, but a matter of spiritual conscientiousness. Truly, we must know to the fullest extent possible the history of the podvig of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.



Image

Saints Patriarch Tikhon and New Hieromartyr Benjamin [Kazansky], Metropolitan of Petrograd gaze intently at us from 100 years ago, imploring that we not forget the massive sacrifices made to defend the Church against the onslaught of persecution by the barbarian Bolsheviks.

Then, we hope, every Russian person will follow the commands of his own conscience and come to the conclusion that in his God-preserved nation, there is no place for the symbols of the godless state and the names of militant atheists.


....We call upon our entire flock, and upon all Orthodox Russian people, in the Fatherland and in the diaspora: preserve as the apple of your eye the gift the Lord has given us-the holy and saving Orthodox Christian faith, remember always the words of Christ: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Amen.

With love in Christ,

  • HILARION,
    Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York,
    First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

  • MARK,
    Archbishop of Berlin and Germany.

  • KYRILL,
    Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America,
    Secretary of the Synod of Bishops.

  • GABRIEL,
    Archbishop of Montreal and Canada.

  • PETER,
    Archbishop of Chicago and Mid-America.

  • NICHOLAS,
    Bishop of Manhattan,
    Deputy Secretary of the Synod of Bishops

http://www.synod.com/synod/eng2017/2017 ... tions.html

Last edited by Maria on Tue 13 June 2017 4:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: quote and list tags added - some bolding removed
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Re: Rocor-MP Synod re the 2 Anniversaries 1917-2017

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An evocative picture was selected to illustrate the Rocor-MP Epistle. It vividly shows the vandalism of a Church by Bolsheviks and collaborators.
The Cross being carried by a Communist strikes one as highly ironic. If one only saw this one image - without the hoodlums at work around that one fur-capped man - in a different setting, it could seem to be merely a worker bringing a Cross into a Church to be set up.

Sadly, quite the opposite.

Liturgical books are being carted away, bells lie smashed on the ground. A puddle of water in the foreground gives a hint of the ruination to be visited upon holy Churches, shrines, monasteries and convents in the decades to follow.

One can easily apprehend the demonic glee with which this destruction was carried out. Multiply this one Church by thousands of others to imagine the gigantic scale and ferocity of the Communists' attack on the Orthodox Church throughout the lands of the former Russian Empire.

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Re: Rocor-MP Synod re the 2 Anniversaries 1917-2017

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Interpretation and amplification of the above Epistle was issued by pravoslavie website as follows :

"March 12, the second Sunday of Great Lent, a call for the removal of [evil Bolshevik tyrant's] body from Red Square was heard in all parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

The call came in the reading of an epistle for the one hundredth anniversary of the appearance of the “Reigning” Icon of the Mother of God, blessed by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York.

The epistle begins:

This year, the entire world, especially we all, will remember the great tragedy of the 20th century which disrupted the fates of millions of people. This calamity literally touched the lives of every Russian family, wherever they may have been. We remember now the hundredth anniversary of the bloody and destructive revolution in Russia. As a result of the betrayal of the government and military leadership, the Tsar was forced to abdicate the throne, which led to unavoidable consequences: the demise of the state, the martyric death of the Tsar himself and of his Most August Family, the brutal internecine war, and the unprecedented persecution of the Orthodox Church and of faith in God in Russia.

However, the Russian people knew God’s grace at that time, as the epistle notes. Also in 1917, “on the very day of the abdication of the Anointed of God, Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich, March 2/15, 1917, the miraculous ‘Sovereign’ Icon of the Mother of God was revealed to our people as a sign that the Most-Pure Queen would not abandon her care for the suffering Russian land, which from days of old was known as the House of the Most-Holy Mother of God.” Moreover, the patriarchate was restored in Russia, with the enthroning of Patriarch St. Tikhon on the feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos, Nov. 21/Dec. 4.

The epistle then encourages all Russian to return to their roots and understand that it was the neglect of faith that led to the tragic events of 1917. “We must not under any circumstances justify the actions of those responsible for the deadly revolution,” the Synod writes, therefore calling for the removal of [the Evil Bolshevik Tyrant's] body from Red Square, as well as all other monuments dedicated to him, and the changing of city and street names named after the ruthless tyrant: “A symbol of reconciliation of the Russian nation with the Lord would be to rid Red Square of the remains of the main persecutor and executioner of the 20th century, and the destruction of monuments to him. They are all symbols of catastrophe, tragedy, and of the destruction of our God-given Sovereignty. The same applies to the cities, oblasts and streets which are deprived of their original historic names.”

Others have made the same call, including the venerable Elder Iliy (Nozdrin) of Optina Monastery:

  • He is not a leader, but a destroyer, a traitor, and a murderer. Russia has suffered horribly because of him. He orchestrated the genocide of the Russian nation and of the Russian people. Ten million people were killed thanks to him, without a trial or investigation. The emperor was murdered by the machinations of this Ulyanov—a villain in the fullest sense of the word. He is a hater of the Russian people. He said with his own burring tongue that if only ten percent of the Russian people would remain then he succeeded. He is a villain of villains. He should have been long ago thrown out of the mausoleum. Through him the Lord does not grant us the full development of our Fatherland, while he is not yet carried out, not thrown out of the threshold of the center of our Russia—Moscow.

In 2015, Russian State Duma Deputy Ivan Konstantin Sukharev, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), introduced a bill to the State Duma, calling for a resumption of the debate on the matter. The bill also called for the elimination of the cemetery where prominent Bolshevik and Soviet officials are buried near the Kremlin wall in Moscow.

For its part, the Synodal Department for Relations of the Church with Society and Media of the Moscow Patriarchate has declined to comment, saying, “We’re not going to comment on it now … because it is a letter addressed to the outside world, not within the Church. Therefore its meaningless to comment.”

The discussion on removing and reburying [the Evil Bolshevik Tyrant's] body and converting his mausoleum into a museum is periodically renewed in Russian society. Department head Vladimir Legoida earlier commented that the issue of Lenin’s mausoleum is not very important for the Russian Church, and “will be resolved naturally with time, in a peaceful manner.”

http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/101803.htm


Shocking that the MP could maintain such a lackluster approach toward this essential step. I am not a fan of Elder Ilya of Optina. But here he spoke well : "Through him the Lord does not grant us the full development of our Fatherland, while he is not yet carried out, not thrown out of the threshold of the center of our Russia—Moscow."

That is a hint of what must be even a greater truth. That the entire city and country are POLLUTED by demons, and horrible filth as long as that focus of witchcraft, sorcery, black magic is maintained. Why ? Because demons cluster around their own. Perhaps this Evil Bolshevik Tyrant was a creature high up among demons. Surely he was himself a devil. We all know that.
As long as the terrifying sight of his tomb is allowed to remain next to historic Cathedrals and towers of the Kremlin, and the Iverskaya Icon Chapel, this permits demons to infest the entire area in thick clouds, like a pestilence.
Then from there to spread out through Moscow.

Each city which has any statue of him invites the same risk.

A New York Times article of March 11, 2017 reported that the city of Ekaterinburg allows simultaneously the Church built for the Royal Martyrs as well as - a statue of Guess Which Evil Bolshevik Tyrant ?

The practice of allowing the Church and Devil to coexist in proximity this way brings down doom from Heaven.

Elder Ilya was quite right here ; he spoke, of course, not so directly. Clearly he was trying to convey this idea without overstepping what he felt to be his limits.

All this goes to say that what should be obvious : the need to remove these nightmarish structures and memorials is imperative.
There should be no discussion about it.

The fact that the MP was so equivocal is alarming. It is theoretically the MP's job to watch out for the spiritual welfare of its members. What kind of protection can be given when an opening of the demonic realm into the earthly world is allowed to persist by an uncaring MP hierarchy and bureaucracy ?

Cemeteries can also a magnet for demons if the people buried there were servants of the devil. Thus the Sukharev bill to dredge up the famous Kremlin Wall cemetery for Soviet officials [ even that awful American Communist reporter John Reed, lionized in the Warren Beatty movie "Reds" is buried there ] should be applauded - and launched into IMMEDIATE action !

One would hate to imagine how many billions of evil spirits are being allowed to float around the heart of Moscow -- and attack people, including foreign tourists who don't know of the existence of devils. Let alone how to protect themselves by prayer to Archangel Michael and the Heavenly Queen !

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Re: Rocor-MP Synod re the 2 Anniversaries 1917-2017

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Picture showing how in close proximity the Spasskaya Tower, which is where the Kremlin burial wall extends out from,
and one Cathedral of the Kremlin - its most famous worldwide - St Basil's - in fact are :

Image
The official name of St Basil's is the Church of Intercession of the Virgin on the Moat. Probably this is a reflection of the defensive moat which ran around the outside of the Kremlin walls. This moat was carved up for the hellish creation of the Kremlin burial wall : attractant for evil spirits far and wide until dismantled

It is nearly insane that this wall should have been the place chosen for the burial of Soviet and foreign Communist fellow travelers :

"Yakov Sverdlov, who died in 1919 allegedly from the Spanish flu, was buried in an individual grave near the Senate tower. Later it became the first of twelve individual graves of top-ranking Soviet leaders.... Sverdlov was followed by John Reed, Inessa Armand, Viktor Nogin and other notable Bolsheviks and their foreign allies. Interment in the Kremlin wall, apart from its location next to the seat of government, was also seen as a statement of atheism while burial in the ground at a traditional cemetery next to a church was deemed inappropriate for a Bolshevik."

As for the Spasskaya Tower, to have a tower consecrated to the Savior being tarnished by the presence of the graves of vile people is unthinkable.

"The tower's modern name comes from the icon of Spas Nerukotvorny (The Saviour Not Made by Hands), which was placed above the gates on the inside wall in 1658 (it was removed in 1917) and the wall-painted icon of Spas Smolensky (Smolensky Saviour), which was created in the 16th century on the outside wall of tower (plastered over in 1937, reopened and restored in 2010." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spasskaya_Tower

Image
Smolensk Savior Icon, with St Sergius of Radonezh and St Varlaam of Khutyn kneeling in prayer to Him.
This early-to-mid 17th century icon was blessed on the Feast of the Dormition 2010. See story of the discovery of this icon in post below

In 1935, the odious gleaming red star topping the Spasskaya Tower was installed by the Soviets. This symbol -- to thinking people -- of the blood shed by the Soviets remains installed to this very day !
Shouldn't it be removed immediately ?

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Re: Rocor-MP Synod re the 2 Anniversaries 1917-2017

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A leader of the project to uncover both the Smolensk Savior Icon and another, the St Nicholas the Healer on the Nikolsky Tower, relates the events leading to this wonderful find.

It is a general lesson that holy, precious things are often not lost or gone as generally believed, but are still in their places just exactly where they were left ! Never to give up hope of finding and restoring them to their rightful places.

The author, Alexander Yakunin, explains the vast spiritual and cultural importance of the Kremlin and particularly, of the Spasskaya entranceway. Clearly, that euphemistically-described 'ruby star' has to be replaced without delay by the former double-headed eagle which presided majestically over the tower :

"It was a true event in history, that of the summer of 2010. Against all the expectations of art critics, historians and restorers sacred objects of great value came to light: the two icons of the entrance gates of the Kremlin in Moscow, which date back five centuries. Over the last seventy years they were all convinced that they had been destroyed on the orders of the Soviet authorities, and it couldn’t be otherwise: indeed, they were fixed above the main entrance of the Kremlin, the State residence of the Soviet leaders, who had proclaimed atheism to be the official ideology of the USSR. Whereas things had gone differently...

Over the centuries, icons had stood over the entrance doors of the two towers of the Kremlin:, the icon of the Savior of Smolensk on the Spasskaya Tower, that of St Nicholas the Healer on Nikolskaya. One was not allowed to pass on horseback through the main tower, the Spasskaya, and going through one had to doff one’s hat. The Kremlin had a sacred meaning to our ancestors, it was the spiritual center of our State, the heart of the Russian Empire. Among its builders were the Italian architects Aristotile Fioravanti and Pietro Antonio Solari, it was regarded by our forefathers as a great monastery, which is why the Spasskaya door was called in Rus’ the Holy Door.

My generation was brought up in years when there were white rectangles, instead of the icons, above the portals of the towers of the Kremlin. And the vast majority of my countrymen did not doubt that it had been so all along. The Kremlin had become exclusively the center of State power. Within it several monasteries and churches had been destroyed, while other religious buildings were turned into museums. Few people, mostly art historians and critics, knew of the icons that had once stood on the towers and could not even imagine that they could have survived during the years of anti-religious struggle by the Soviet power. So for almost twenty years after the fall of the USSR no serious attempts were made to restore the original appearance of the towers of the Kremlin.

Some years ago the “Saint Andrew the First Called” Foundation decided to check, if by chance they had not been destroyed, whether the icons were preserved under the plaster. Most of the specialists mocked us, UNESCO experts warned us that if we had tried to put up new icons to replace the lost ones, they might exclude the Kremlin from the list of world heritage sites. [ Unbelievable ! ]

The risk was high. On our side we had only the oral tradition, preserved by the descendants of Russian immigrants living in Europe, the US and other countries. A dear friend of ours, Bishop Mikhail of Geneva and Western Europe of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, who was born and raised in Paris, descendant of a Don Cossack, told us that among Russians abroad there was reference to the images that before the Revolution stood above the doors of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya Towers, venerated by the people as sacred and miraculous. This information stirred great perplexity and curiosity in us: what could be in those niches, behind the white plaster? The brick wall of the Kremlin or the remains of the icons? So we tried to get permission to analyze the niches, to check for the presence or absence of the old icons. It was granted all of three years later, for the Kremlin is the residence of the President of the Russian Federation. In May 2007 I sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin, and also to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Alexy II, who passionately supported our initiative. The text made clear that the project would be funded by the “Saint Andrew the First Called” Foundation and not from public money. Our logic was simple: if under the plaster we found traces of historical icons, we would have restored them, otherwise we would recreate the lost images. But even with support at the highest level, it took a long time to convince art historians and architects of the need for such a survey, because there was not one single document endorsing the idea of the survival of the icons.

Within the Foundation we created a working group that presented a project for the restoration of the icons. It formed a support committee consisting of the heads of institutions responsible for the protection of cultural heritage, of the police (without whose permission it is not possible to conduct work in a sensitive site) and of other interested people. The working group comprised the main art critics and historians, restorers and architects.

We had created too much interest and had not intended to spark any uproar until we were convinced of the accuracy of our hypothesis. In early 2010 we decided to proceed with the first analysis of the niches.

The working group asked for tenders from five restoration firms, designated by the Russian body for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage and the Museums of the Kremlin, and chose one. A special inter-departmental committee watched over the restoration work.

In order not to expose them to unnecessary curiosity, we instructed the restorers to work on the niches of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya Towers in harness with the usual work of refurbishing the Kremlin for the festivities of 9 May, the day when we celebrate the Second World War victory. Clearly, we were all very worried.
What joy when they reported that the first analysis showed the presence of a layer of paint under the plaster! The research results were presented at a press conference and all the television news programs gave out the news as historic, even momentous...

Let us consider for a moment, however, the measurements of the icons: they are about the height of an average person and are over one meter wide. The initial surveys had been conducted on a small area of only ten square centimeters. And after the conclusion of the analysis the samples were carefully hidden, so that nobody might suspect that work had been done. What the experts had found did not guarantee the total survival of the frescoes. In addition, after the press conference, I received a letter from a priest who wanted to convince me that our conclusions were wrong and that the icons had not survived. I realized that I could be sure of the survival of the icons only after having seen the frescoes with my own eyes. So we were eager to proceed with the removal of the protective layer.

The first analyses showed that the preservation of the icons had been carried out by expert restorers, using the utmost caution. Together with the commander of the Kremlin, Sergei Khlebnikov, I was fortunate enough to climb the scaffolding and witness the commencement of work for the uncovering of the first niche. And only after a significant portion of the fresco had become visible to our eyes, did I go down to the street and inform the journalists that the icon of the Savior had survived. Within days the image of Nicholas the Healer on the Nicholas tower was also completely freed.

It took three months for the restoration of the icon on the portal of the Spasskaya Tower; a little longer for the restoration of the older icon of St Nicholas over the other gateway. Furthermore the icon of Nicholas the Healer had been damaged in the days of the 1917 Revolution: sailors and soldiers had fired at it with rifles and even artillery. All this has required great care in the restoration, but, fortunately, our specialists are excellent. One of them seemed to have come straight out of the 19th century: he didn’t know how to use a cell phone and kept away from today’s communication technologies. A deeply religious man, with a surprisingly acute gaze and full of goodness. He devoted himself to the restoration with great caution and awe.

At the end of August 2010, the inter-departmental committee announced the successful completion of the work on the image of the Savior of Smolensk....

I’m sure that for all those who gathered in Red Square on 28 August, the day of the Dormition of the Mother of God, the blessing of the icon of the Savior was an unforgettable moment, one of the brightest and most moving. Despite the bad weather, one felt the wonderful unity of all those present, praying and giving thanks for the miraculous and memorable event.

On 4 November, the Day of the People’s Unity, the icon of St Nicholas the Healer over the gateway of the Nikolskaya Tower was blessed in front of thousands of people, who had grown up in the Soviet Union or were descendants of immigrants living in Europe. Millions of Russians watched on live television. The Christian tradition, backbone of the development of our multicultural and multi-denominational society, soul of our history, great and tragic, united us all, rekindling confidence in a brighter future also for the Russian State."

http://www.30giorni.it/articoli_id_77403_l3.htm

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Re: Rocor-MP Synod re the 2 Anniversaries 1917-2017

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The MP's powerful DECR Chairman, Metropolitan Hilarion [Alfeyev], took up the same theme that Rocor's Synod did in their missive of March 10. He went a step farther by proposing that those streets and squares blackened by the names of odious Communist leaders and idols be now renamed in honor of various New Martyrs :


"Especially in this year of the centenary of the tragic Russian revolution, it is necessary to venerate the memory of and erect monuments to the New Martyrs persecuted for the Faith in the atheist Soviet years, and name streets in their honor, believes the head of Synodal Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev), reports Interfax-Religion.

“That’s who we ought to erect monuments to, and whose names we ought to give to streets and squares, instead of artificially maintaining reverence for torturers, terrorists, and murderers, immortalized in the names of the squares and streets of many cities of our great Russia,” the metropolitan said on Wednesday in St. Petersburg at a plenary session dedicated to contemplating the events of 1917.

He noted that tens of thousands of clergy and millions of laity were victims of repressions, just in the 1930s.

136,900 Orthodox clergymen suffered repression in 1937, 85,300 of them being executed. In 1938, 28,300 were arrested, and 21,500 executed. “The total number of believers who suffered in the years of persecution is known to God alone,” Met. Hilarion said. According to [ the head of the MP's DECR ], by 1939, only about 100 out of more than 60,000 churches that had been active in 1917 were still open. Only four ruling bishops remained free.

As he noted, more than 1,760 New Martyrs and Confessors have been officially glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church, and noted that “spiritual blindness” was the main cause of the revolutionary events of 1917.

“In the pre-revolutionary period, year after year the truth of God as the foundation of the people’s life was replaced under various influences by human truth. The Gospel principle of love for God and neighbor was replaced with hedonistic and egoistic phantasms. The image of Christ as the ideal for imitation was replaced with rebels and godless figures.

The fashionable ideas of the liberal wing became more popular than the Gospel.
Debauchery and drunkenness became the norm of life,” he stated.

http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/103026.htm

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Re: Rocor-MP Synod re the 2 Anniversaries 1917-2017

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Although some progress has been made in Churchifying the Russian Federation's public holidays, there is not yet a suitable replacement for May Day [ today ]. This notorious occasion used to be International Workers Day, a Communist revel with gigantic parades of military and showing off of missiles, etc. in Red Square.

So, the holidays should be revised thoroughly to reflect good causes rather than rotten Communist ones. Christmas, January 7, with the days before and after it, are accorded as holidays. But New Year's / St Basil's, January 14 is not yet one.

The National Unity Day - which is also the Kazan Mother of God Icon Day - is clearly an attempt to draw popular attention away from the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution November 7. Perhaps this has not yet caught on completely. Maybe other holidays need to be introduced which reinforce belief in God as opposed to vague secular themes like "Consolidation Day", another name for Unity Day.

In Catholic countries, May Day has always been celebrated with flowers and festivities honoring Our Lady. Could not Russia think of something related to the Mother of God to substitute for that dreadful "Workers' Day" ?

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